Poetry
Santa Cruz is dedicated to nurturing the poetry community and bringing
poetry to the larger community in Santa Cruz County. We present poetry readings
at Bookshop Santa Cruz and other locations in
Santa Cruz County, and the Poet/Speak open reading. We also provide free
information on other poetry-related events in the area.

Poetry
Santa Cruz events are supported, in part, by a grant from Arts Council of Santa Cruz County.
Some readings are supported by
Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from the James Irvine Foundation.
Poetry Santa Cruz is also grateful for the support of its members and donors, In Celebration of the Muse, and those who donated
in memory of Maude Meehan, Kathleen Flowers and Hermie Medley. The William James Association acted as our fiscal sponsor for our first four years.
Events are sponsored by Bookshop Santa Cruz, Capitola Book Café, Santa Cruz Public Library, Cabrillo College English Dept.,
UCSC Division of Humanities and Creative Writing Program, Darling House, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, and KUSP.
Membership premiums have been donated by Graywolf Press, the University of Pittsburgh Press,
Robert Sward, Coffee House Press, Copper Canyon Press, and Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
A voluntary donation of $3 may be requested at venues where collection of donations is permitted.

In Celebration of The Muse 2017 Call for Submissions

 The 2017 In Celebration of the Muse is planned for March 25.
Submissions deadline is December 1, 2016. Mail up to 5 pages of your poetry, fiction, memoir, or drama plus a brief bio and contact info.
The deadline is December 1, 2016. No e-submissions. Mail submissions to
MUSE READING
c/o Wilma Chandler
885 35th Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA 95062

Robert Sward is the 20162018 Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate

 Robert Sward has been selected as the new Poet Laureate of Santa Cruz County with a two-year term.
Laureate selection is made every two years by Arts Council Santa Cruz County, Poetry Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County Office of Education and Santa Cruz Public Libraries.

 The Summer 2016 issue of Catamaran Literary Reader
is available from the website and at Bookshop Santa Cruz.
The Fall 2016 issue is coming soon.
 See the News page for more details and news.
 See the Courses page for information on writing classes.
Poetry workshops with Dane Cervine and Maggie Paul are currently available for registration.
 See the Submissions page for guidelines and to submit your work.

 The 2016 issue of Porter Gulch Review
is available. The reading was held Friday, May 13, 2016 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the Cabrillo College Horticulture Center.
Submissions for the 2017 issue are due by December 1. Send your best stories, poems, novel excerpts, plays, screenplays, photos and artwork
for the Spring 2017 issue. Send up to 5 submissions to dasullivan@yahoo.com and include
a short playful bio. Send all images as high resolution files, 400 dpi, or upload via Dropbox and provide a link.

 The Red Wheelbarrow 2016 National Edition submission deadline was February 15, 2016.
The annual reading from the 2015 magazine was held in the Poetry Center San Jose Well-Red series in Works/San Jose gallery on December 9, 2015.

 The Swan Scythe Press deadline for its 2016 Poetry Chapbook Contest was June 15, 2016.

 Marc Zegans is the author of Boys in the Woods, a hand-bound chapbook now available from
Crane Maiden Books.
 Melinda Rices chapbook of poems, Sea Fever,
is now available at Bookshop Santa Cruz and from Finishing Line Press.
 Lisa Allen Ortizs first full-length collection of poems is Guide to the Exhibit,
the winner of the 2016 Perugia Press Prize and is now available.
 Imaginary Animal by Rachelle Linda Escamilla was the Grand Prize Winner for Poetry of the
2014 Willow Books Literature Awards.
 Gary Youngs latest is a chapbook, Adversary, (Miramar Editions, 2015).
 Ziggy Rendler-Bregman has published her first collection, The Gate of Our Coming and Going, which
also includes 18 of her full-color monoprints and is available at Bookshop Santa Cruz. Her launch reading was held December 10 at Holy Cross Parish Hall.
 Maria Garcia Teutschs new chapbook, The Revolution Will Have Its Sky,
(Minerva Rising, 2015) is the winner of the 2015 Minerva Rising Chapbook Prize, judged by Heather McHugh.
 Mary Lou Taylors new collection is Bringing Home the Moon, (Kelsay Books, 2015).
 David Allen Sullivans new collection is Black Ice, (Turning Point, 2015).
 Tilly Washburn Shaws last book of poems, Hanging Out in the Ordinary has been printed
posthumously by Hummingbird Press and is available at Bookshop Santa Cruz. A reading was held Sunday, November 8, 2015.
 William Minors latest collection is Gypsy Wisdom: New and Selected Poems, (Park Place Publications, 2015).
 Jim Russo has published three poetry chapbooks: Kids Ruled, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, and
The Sway of Color, (Sky Bolt Circus Press, 2015).
 J.P. Dancing Bears very new book is Cephalopodic, (Glass Lyre Press, 2015),
2014 winner of the Kithara Prize. Free shipping from the publisher if you email your NAME, ADDRESS and desired BOOK TITLE to publisher@glasslyrepress.com
After the book has been sent out, they email an invoice payable via PayPal or by check for $16.
Also available online at Amazon.com.
 Stephen Kessler has two new books: Need I Say More?: Portraits, Confessions, Reflections
(El Léon Literary Arts, 2015) and Where Was I?, (Greenhouse Review Press, 2014).
 Adela Najarro has two new poetry collections published: Split Geography
(Mouthfeel Press, 2015) and Twice Told Over, (Unsolicited Press, 2015).
 Dan Phillips has a new collection published: Places of the Spirit, (Dandasana Press, 2014).
 Carolyn Mary Kleefelds latest collection is The Divine Kiss, (Cross-Cultural Communications, 2014).
 Nils Michals

is the author of Come Down to Earth, (Bauhan 2014), which won the May Sarton New Hampshire Prize.
 Curt Anderson

is the author of The Occasionist, (Hip Pocket Press, 2014).
 Rudy Calderón is the author of Mexican-American My Hybrid Blood.
 Franco Juárez y Cahue is the author of Palabra Franca, a collection of poems in Spanish.
 Carolyn Brigit Flynns collection of poems, Communion: In Praise of the Sacred Earth, was
published in April, 2014 by White Cloud Press in Ashland, OR. The book launch reading, with accompaniment by Shelley Phillips on harp, was
held on May 2, 2014 in the Pacific Cultural Center.
 Erica Goss latest book is Vibrant Words: Ideas and Inspirations
for Poets from Pushpen Press, released in April 2014.
 J. P. Dancing Bears latest books are Love Is a Burning Building, (FutureCycle Press, 2013)
and The Abandoned Eye (FutureCycle Press, 2012) is available online at Amazon.com.
 Robin Lysne

is the author of Poems for the Lost Deer
(Blue Bone Books, 2014).
 Douglas McClellans new collection of poems is So Many Chairs
(Many Names Press, 2013).
 Poet and Aikido teacher Linda Holiday is the author of
Journey to the Heart of Aikido: The Teachings of Motomichi Anno Sensei.
 Ellen Bass has her latest collection of poems,
Like a Beggar, published by Copper Canyon Press, released in February 2014.
 Kyle Shanebeck is the author of Awake the Reflections, available from
Amazon.com
His website is kyleshanebeck.com/ Charles Atkinsons latest chapbook is World News, Local Weather
from Finishing Line Press, now available for prepublication purchase ordering.
 Danusha Laméris first collection of poems, The Moons of August, has been selected
by Naomi Shihab Nye to receive the 2013 Autumn House Poetry Prize and was published by Autumn House Press in early 2014.
 Patricia Zylius is the author of Once a Vibrant Field: Poems about Tom Cuthbertson
from Finishing Line Press, now available for prepublication purchase ordering.
 Mary Addems Carr is the author of Trajectories: Selected Poems 20072012,
published via On Demand Books on the Espresso Book Machine at Bookshop Santa Cruz.
 Pamela OShaughnessy has published Figments and Other Poems
(Laika Press, 2013), a comprehensive collection of her poetry to date.
 John Laues latest book is a collection of senryu: Word Gains
(Writers and Lovers Studio, 2013). His latest chapbook, Shadows, was published in January by
Finishing Line Press.
Also, his book Colma (City of the Dead/ Elegy for Skeptics) was reissued in February in a new
augmented edition with photos he took of that cemetery city (Futurecycle Press, 2013).
His chapbook A Confluence of Voices was published in 2012,
by Finishing Line Press.
An interview with him and a selection of poems from A Confluence of Voices is featured in the newest issue of
The Seventh Quarry, an international journal out of Swansea, Wales (available by purchasing the issue).
His books are available at Bookshop Santa Cruz and Capitola Book Café.
 Dahlia Seroussi is the author of What I Know
from Finishing Line Press, now available for prepublication purchase ordering.
 Lisa Allen Ortizs second chapbook is Self Portrait as a Clock
from Finishing Line Press, now available for ordering.
 Helene Simkin Jara has published her first book, Because I Had To,
a collection of award-winning short stories, poems, monologues and plays. Available
from Amazon.com.
 Joanna Martins second book of poetry is Where Stars Begin
available from Hummingbird Press. The release reading was held
March 16 at the Cabrillo Horticulture Center.
 Stephen Kessler has two new books out. Scratch Pegasus is the ninth
collection of his own poems and is published by Swan Scythe Press. Poems of Consummation is a collection of
his translations of poems by the Spanish poet Vicente Aleixandre and is published by Black Widow Press.
 Dane Cervines new book of poetry is How Therapists Dance
from Plain View Press.
 Anna Citrino is the author of Saudade
from Finishing Line Press and is now available for purchase.
 Peggy Heinrichs seventh book of poetry is Forward Moving Shadows: A Tanka Memoir
with photographs by John Bolivar. Available from iUniverse and the author.
 Michael Wolfe is the translator for Cut These Words into My Stone: Ancient Greek Epitaphs
with a foreword by Richard P. Martin and published by Johns Hopkins University Press. He read at the Gabriella Cafe Monthly Literary Salon
on December 4 and brought his surprising tale of the oldest artful writing in the Western world to the annual Northern California
Phi Beta Kappa symposium at Asilomar in the opening presentation on Friday, February 15.
See reviews in Poetry and
The Arts Fuse.
 Lynika Cruz is the author of the chapbook If We Never Went Home, being published in December 2012
by Finishing Line Press and may be ordered now. Early orders are encouraged since orders help determine the size of the printing.
Her memoir Beggars CAN Be Choosers was published by Global Publishing in August 2012.
 C. J. Sages latest book is Open House.
 Patrice Vecchiones book The Knot Untied, is available
at Bookshop Santa Cruz and through the books website www.theknotuntied.net.
The website also includes an extensive list of the author events,
including a reading at Bookshop Santa Cruz on April 2.
 Nick Herbert is the author of Harlot Nature, 2012, Sea Creature Press.
 Frances Hatfield is the author of Rudiments of Flight, available now from Wings Press.
 Dion Farquhar is the author of Wonderful Terrible, available from Main Street Rag.
 Joan Safajeks collection of poems is In Deep Time, published in 2012.
She passed away on November 10, 2012.
 James Maughns third collection, These Peripheries, is now published in 2012
by Otoliths Books in Australia.
 Peter Nash is the winner of the 2011 Off The Grid Press Award for Poets Over 60.
His collection Coyote Bush: Poems From the Lost Coast was published in 2012, available from Off The Grid Press.
He read on August 18 at 5:30 pm in Felix Kulpa Gallery.
 Erica Goss is the winner of the 2011 Many Mountains Moving Poetry Contest.
Her chapbook Wild Place was published in 2012, available from Finishing Line Press.
She was interviewed by Dennis Morton on The Poetry Show on Sunday, August 5. The show may be heard or downloaded at The Poetry Show Blog.
She read with Catherine Barnett at 7:30 pm on August 14 at Bookshop Santa Cruz.
 David Sullivans book of poems in multiple voices about the Iraq war
is Every Seed of the Pomegranate, published by Tebot Bach, June 2012. The Publication Celebration Reading
was held July 15 in the Cabrillo College Horticulture Center.